Statement of the Republican Political Party "Forum of the National Unity of Abkhazia"

16 November 2017231

The Statement of the Republican Political party "Forum of National Unity of Abkhazia" relating to the dismantling of the monument in the Scottish city of Kilmarnock.

"The tactics in relation to Abkhazia and South Ossetia which Georgia has chosen over recent years is another confirmation of the often repeated classical thought that history lessons do not teach anything. After suffering a crushing defeat in the wars against Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgia instead of signing of peace agreement and recognizing the independence of two self-determined republics had no state-legal relations with it. Georgia is trying in every possible way to prevent their development, formation and entry into the world community. Apparently, the Georgian political elite may not accept the fact that there will not be a return to the previous unitary system and it continues deludes itself by illusions about the possible restoration of its notorious "territorial integrity". Moreover, its actions are very contradictory. Widely and ambitiously declaring slogans about the preservation of the Abkhaz language and culture Georgian politicians continue to condone the grossest falsification of the history of Abkhazia. How compatible is such a view of the fate of the Abkhaz language and culture with the unprecedented distortion of Abkhaz toponymy, the closure of Abkhaz schools, national broadcasting, the press, the Georgianization of the Abkhaz alphabet and the policy of assimilation of the Abkhazians in the sadly memorable era of Stalinism and Beria. Or does someone want to convince us that since then something dramatically has been changed in the Georgian ideological system?

The above facts pose a completely natural question: who on behalf of the Georgian public and intelligentsia apologized to the Abkhazians, Ossetians and representatives of other nationalities for the irreparable moral and material damage inflicted on them for the genocide committed by the Georgian authorities in 1992-1993 in Abkhazia and in 2008 in South Ossetia?

How compatible are the pharisaical statements about the salvation of the Abkhaz language and culture which are now coming from Tbilisi with shootings and destruction of monuments to Dmitry Gulia, the patriarch of Abkhaz literature, Samson Chanba and Iua Kogonia the largest representatives of the national culture, the monument to E. Eshba, the burning of the Abkhazian language, literature and history Institute and the Central State Archives of Abkhazia, the National Library of I.Papaskir, the facts of the barbarous plundering of the Abkhazian State Museum, the Abkhazian State Drama Theater, the House Museum of N. Lakoba and other cultural and research institutions of the republic?

Who from the representatives of the Georgian literature and art, the scientific community officially expressed regret about the tragic fate of Taif Ajba, the prominent Abkhaz poet who was captured in 1992 by the Georgian occupiers? Is it known to the Georgian intelligentsia that such famous stage masters as E. Kogonia, M. Zukhba, V. Margania and many others became victims of the Shevardnadze occupation regime?

Instead of an objective assessment of the past, normal, civilized dialogue and the search for further peaceful coexistence with the peoples of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgian politicians and their agents are busy monitoring all foreign policy intentions of the Abkhaz and South Ossetian authorities and their foreign missions. The Georgian Foreign Ministry constantly throws notes of protest and all kinds of complaints by any country that dared to enter into any connection with the new independent republics. Tbilisi keeps under strict control the routes of ensembles, theaters, scientific, creative collectives, sports teams from Sukhum and Tskhinval. It is hampering even children and young people invited to international festivals and various forums. What is the fact that the directorate of the memorial house-museum of Shandor Petefi in Kishkereshe was strictly warned that she would install a bust of Bagrat Shinkuba, the great Abkhazian writer in the sculptural portraits of the best translators of the famous Hungarian poet without coordination with the Georgian authorities?

As it turns out, now it has reached the monument to the victims of the Georgian aggression against Abkhazia established in the Scottish city of Kilmarnock. Judging by the publications at the request of Georgia, Britain intends to demolish this monument which symbolizes the historical justice. The Georgian politicians who are well-versed in the war with monuments do not care about the touching and deeply-suffered history of twinning between Sukhum and Kilmarnock which was born in the Soviet era. Their most important task at the present stage is to destroy, burn and consign to oblivion everything associated with freedom and independence of Abkhazians and Ossetians. To eradicate from the consciousness and memory of people all that is associated with the terrible traces of Georgian aggression.

It is said:

«The Forum of the National Unity of Abkhazia appeals to the British Embassy in the Russian Federation, to the International Council for the Preservation of Monuments and Sites (ICOSMOS), to the Secretary General of UNESCO, to international human rights organizations to prevent the destruction of the above-mentioned monument in Scotland. We regard the promotion of provocative intentions of Georgia as aiding and abetting vandalism and attempting to falsify the objective facts of modern history of mankind. "